%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1329952038047800100%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.%%[[quoteright:320:[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/death-from-above_sonic_5560.gif]]]][[caption-width-right:320:[[DeflectorShields Luckily, Sonic's Fire Shield will protect him.]][[note]]Tails is in for a fun time, though.[[/note]]]]

->''"You should encounter little organized resistance because the Pfhor are preoccupied. I've been introducing them to the '''magic''' of {{orbital bombardment}}."''-->-- '''[[MagnificentBastard Durandal]]''', ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}} 2: Durandal''

Whether it's (un)holy smiting, meteor showers, nuclear weapons, bricks from bi-planes, ordinary ordnance, or good old napalm, there's lots of ways to rain Death From Above on those below. There's something about Death raining down from the sky that is almost Biblical; it's fear and awe inspiring because there is ''nothing'' the target can do to avoid this airborne doom but "duck and cover". It is at once a powerful and impersonal way to threaten or actually kill someone, hence a great way to establish a [[SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat villain's power and threat as being on a planetary scale]]; on the flip side it also makes the airborne cavalry come to save the hero look angelic and omnipotent in comparison to the efforts of the heroes.

!![[Main/SuperTrope Listed below are a few ways to rain this holy judgment:]][[index]]

* TheCavalry, if [[ItsRainingMen they arrive]] in a GunshipRescue or a DropShip.* ColonyDrop, for the space age equivalent of dropping a house on a witch.* DropPod, almost always.* FlyingFirepower, for the ability to propel oneself and rain death at a convenient distance.* GiantFlyer, because siccing dragons and/or giant birds on those who would oppose you is [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons just too awesome]] not to do.** PteroSoarer, monstrous and usually [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology highly inaccurate]] pterosaurs attacking people from above.** KidnappingBirdOfPrey, any example of the above attacking people and carrying them away, presumably to kill and devour them.* GoombaStomp, apply feet directly to head.** GiantFootOfStomping: when said foot is unusually large.** GroundPound, a more powerful variant.** SwordPlant, the same but with a weapon.* Meteor, for random Armageddon situations.* [[KillItWithFire Napalm]], for the [[Film/ApocalypseNow smell of it in the morning]].* NukeEm, when mutually assured destruction is no big deal.* OrbitalBombardment when a spaceship rains death upon a planet.** KillSat, when it's coming from a satellite instead of a starship.* [[EarthShatteringKaboom Planet killers]] are the extreme form of Death From Above.* RainOfArrows, for the medieval version of carpet bombing. Add in some ArrowsOnFire for extra fun.* RocksFallEveryoneDies, for the basic GameMaster's tool (not coincidentally).* The SwordOfDamocles, certain varieties and the trope namer.

Occasionally leads to RidingTheBomb.

For a more personal version of this trope see VerticalKidnapping.----!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]* In ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'', the heroes do battle with Dorssia's crown jewel of planetary air combat-the Ideal Blume. L-Elf knows that its meant to spam relatively light machine gun fire down on land emplacements with weak upper armor, so when he selects a team to destroy it, he picks (among others) the Valvrave with the best shielding to defy this Trope. He even mentions that top-notch mecha like the Valvraves make that kind of airship obsolete.* Dio Brando's [[MemeticMutation (in)famous]] steamroller attack, featured near the end of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' Part 3.** Occurs again in Part 6 with Viviano Westwood's Stand, Planet Rays. When active, Planet Rays pulls Meteorites towards Westwood, burning them away before they make contact with him. Ones flying towards other people though will not do so. Now imagine that power being active during a fist-fight...* The ColonyDrop and related forms are absolutely adored by the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise. To wit:** The original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'''s backstory includes an attempted colony drop on Brazil that was derailed to Australia. ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Gundam 0083]]'' gives us a decent peek of the ensuing crater bay carved from the 50-mile radius around what used to be Sydney.** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]'' more or less revolves around Char doing this and even begins with a preliminary meteor drop on Tibet.** Operation Meteor of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' infamy was drafted as a plan to drop an asteroid on Earth, then seize control with the Gundams as the populace runs around in terror. Of course, we wind up seeing what happens when the Gundams jump the gun and their pilots' humanity interferes, but Dekim Barton decides to double back and try it right in ''Endless Waltz''.** ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' starts with the Space Revolutionary Army devastating the Earth with mass colony drops. The series proper takes place AfterTheEnd with everyone who's left scrambling to control the titular Gundam, whose [[KillSat Satellite Cannon]] was designed to shoot the things down.** The second season of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVFgWqFWLBU has an orbital elevator collapse and a massive scramble from Celestial Being and A-LAWS to clear the ensuing debris before it lands on someone's head. The collapse was caused by the Memento Mori orbital cannons which were also used previously ro level entire CITIES from above.]]** ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' features an attempt to drop a destroyed colony on Earth. Despite the efforts of both the Federation and ZAFT, who together actually manage to take out the majority of the thing, enough damage is caused to re-ignite a second Bloody Valentine War.** Even ''SDGundamForce'' gets in on the action towards the end of its first half, when Chief Haro conducts the largest-scale [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan Bright Slap]] {{homage}} ever by dropping the hand-shaped Blanc Base on the Dark Axis's Big Zam.** In ''{{The 08th MS Team}}'', the entire point of the Apsalus Project is to produce a weapon that can destroy the Federation's headquarters at Jaburo even through [[ElaborateUndergroundBase the layers of rock and earth protecting it]]. This is done by strapping a superhigh-powered beam cannon to a mobile armor designed to "bounce" high into the atmosphere and bombard Jaburo like a KillSat.* In ''Anime/MazingerZ'', Jenova M9 was a {{Robeast}} could shoot an enemy down [[ImprobableAimingSkills several miles away]]. It tried to shoot [[TheHero Kouji Kabuto]] down from the atmosphere, where neither him nor Mazinger-Z could reach it.** And in the sequel, ''Anime/GreatMazinger'', [[TheDragon Great Marshall of Hell]] fabricated a massive lens of ice orbited around Earth and worked like a KillSat by focusing sunrays in one single point and blasting it with a massive, hot-melting heat ray. It appeared only in one of the manga continuities, though.* Servant Caster from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is rather fond of this, especially in the sequel ''FateHollowAtaraxia''. Being able to create FrickinLaserBeams with a single word (whereas the regular magus would need 30 seconds and a small ritual), and capable of flight, she {{Beam Spam}}s her enemies who have almost no chance of fighting back.* Hiigari must stop the RocksFallEveryoneDies version in ''PsychoStaff''.* Hostile aliens destroy Earth's bases through showers of meteors in ''Anime/SpaceCarrierBlueNoah''.* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'':** In the manga at least, there is an [[KillSat orbital laser]] called Pink Floyd, which the [[GreyAndGrayMorality good-ish]] guys hacked to put the trigger on a hand-held GPS.--->'''Random Mook:''' What? Was that supposed to do something?** In the ''AKIRA'' film, The Colonel orders SOL (Solar Orbital Laser) to attempt to target [[spoiler:Tetsuo]], a boy who has attained powerful but uncontrollable psychic powers.* In ''Manga/HeavensLostProperty'', Ikaros uses a cork-minigun in a shoot-out competition to get rid of a lot of participants. All whilst flying.* Two (actually three) words: [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure HEARTCATCH ORCHESTRA!]] Despite its name, the true nature of the attack is to summon a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant pink haired woman]] who punches her enemies from the above with a PowerFist! [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Epi7ArY5A Just skip to 01:07 and see for yourself]].* The ''{{Digimon}}'' [=Starmon/SuperStarmon=] have the "Meteor Shower/Squall" attack.* ''Anime/MekakucityActors'': The fate suffered by [[spoiler:Hiyori]] in episode 4 via [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice many iron poles]]. [[spoiler:The worst part is that this isn't the first (''or last'') time either]].[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]* ''{{Nextwave}}''. Widdle cuddly bears... of death! Then subverted by Aaron Stack. "Fear my robot head."* In the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' Archie comic, Dr. Robotnik assembled a fleet of airships and bombed Knothole into a crater, forcing the cast to relocate.* The skyfurnaces in Christian Gossett's ''The Red Star'', mile-long, heavily armored airships armed with Warkasters (military sorceresses). Each kaster is suspended in a special chamber that allows her to project herself temporarily as a concentrated beam of heat. The effect is pretty terrifying.* TheCavalry version of BigDamnHeroes coming from above can be seen in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', in which it is dubbed a "Force from on high." Also subverted, as the superheroes involved do not kill anybody.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eastern Animation]]* The Space Fleet team led by ''Animation/KapitanBomba'' rarely uses weapons other than guns and grenades, but on few occasion they got issued a mortar with several different types of ammunition.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]* Sometimes, it's just simply the most expedient solution to your problem. After all, why stomp around on the ground, wading through hordes of enemies just for the hell of it? As Ripley states in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'', carpet bombing a planet is shown to be much more effective than simply dropping the Mobile Infantry on the ground and letting them shoot it out. This phrase is also on the tattoo that Rico, Ace, Dizzy and Kitten get before the Battle of Big K.* The penultimate scene of ''Film/StarshipTroopers3Marauder'' has the Marauder team dropping from the night sky (first appearing as a halo of lights around Holly's head) in answer to Holly and Lola's prayers. After they're rescued a Q-Bomb is then used to destroy the entire planet.* There's a particularly cool bit in ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'' with Brendan Fraser where it literally starts raining fire from above. Not only does this look awesome but the flames make a satisfying low whoosh sound as they hit the ground and set red-shirts alight. ''And'' a minaret breaks off a building, probably falling on people.* The various Star Destroyer type vessels in ''Franchise/StarWars'' are equipped for orbital bombardment; the ExpandedUniverse says they were ''designed around the task'', which is part of why they so heavily outgunned everything else in space at the time and had such an advantage against other vessels designed for starship combat. Notably, in the novel ''[[NewJediOrder Rebel Dream]]'', a Super Star Destroyer uses this tactic while ''defending'' - by using ground troops to force the enemy into specific locations on the planet below, where they could safely be blown to bits. Repeatedly.*** [[TruthInTelevision That's actually a standard infantry/air support tactic.]] Pin the enemy with the ground troops, then flatten them with an airstrike.** And of course there's the Death Star, designed specifically to blow up a planet.** The Republic Attack Cruisers/''Venator''-class Star Destroyers from the prequel featured similar systems, but they had a unique drawback: because of the placement of their weapons, they were great for orbital bombardment, but crap for ship-to-ship combat. This was fixed with the later Star Destroyers.* ''Film/RedDawn1984''. After the [[{{Mooks}} Soviet army]] and even [[EliteMooks Spetznaz commandos]] prove ineffective in wiping out the [[LaResistance American guerrillas]], the Reds bait a trap with some supplies that 'accidentally' fell off a truck, then send in three Hind gunships.* An unusual take on the trope occurs in ''TheBoondockSaints''. TheMafiya soldier is about to execute one of the protagonists when [[ItMakesSenseInContext a toilet drops on his head]].* In the beginning of ''Film/{{Suspiria}}'', after the first victim is killed, she falls through the stained glass skylight, several pieces of which end up impaling her roommate who's standing below.* Witnessed from afar in ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia''.-->'''Ali:''' God pity the men under those guns.-->'''Lawrence:''' They're Turks.-->'''Ali:''' Even so, God pity them.* ''Film/ThreeHundred'':-->'''Persian:''' Our arrows will blot out the sun!\\'''Stelios:''' [[SubvertedTrope Then we will fight in the shade.]]* ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'' and ''Film/DeepImpact'' both revolved around meteor impacts.* ''Film/StarTrek'' (2009): The Narada uses a giant laser to drill to the middle of a planet, then drops in red matter to create a black hole in its core.* In ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', the Decepticons attacks the Earth by crash landing in different parts of the world and then demands the surrender of Sam Witwicky to them or they destroy the world.* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': Narrator Jake describes himself as this after he bonds with his Ikran. His feelings of lethality last up until he is attacked by Death From Above in the form of a predator almost five times as big.** The Na'vi word for the great leonopteryx, "Toruk", means [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Last Shadow"]]** In the battle at the end, [[spoiler:Jake and his Toruk lead the Na'vi flyers in a diving ambush on the RDA's gunships. Their bows, shown to lack the power to penetrate the gunship canopies when fired up from the ground, are much more effective with the force of a diving Ikran behind them.]]* Invoked in a grand display of helicopters and napalm bombing during ''Film/ApocalypseNow''. For perspective, Lt. ColonelKilgore of the [[TheCavalry Air Cavalry division]] is somewhat reluctant to assist Captain Willard in his mission but when he hears that there is a good beach nearby occupied by the enemy that would just so happen to go Willard's way he decides to lead his men into battle in a formation of helicopters. As the helicopters close in on the Vietcong he plays "Music/RideOfTheValkyries" to intimidate them and then they rain fiery death down upon them and as the helicopters land to let the men down onto the ground one of the helicopters humorously has "Death From Above" stamped on its nose. The battle goes well enough but Kilgore gets frustrated, that the enemy are being so persistent as he would just like to go ahead and surf the beach already, and decides to call in a massive napalm strike to end the battle. When all is said and done Kilgore temporarily forgets about the surfing and in the ecstasy of the moment notes how much he loves to watch explosions like that famously saying, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning (...) It smells like victory."* ''Film/TheRock'' has an example of one side of the protagonists doing this to another due to PoorCommunicationKills: The VX gas threat was neutralised so late and the signal indicating the all-clear took so long to transmit to the bombers sent to destroy the Alcaztraz facilities (holding the terrorists and the VX gas) that by the time it gets through, one missile has already been launched.* In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', The male Muto employs a hit and run strategy using its wings, and dive-bombs [[spoiler:the boat carrying the nuclear bomb the military intended to use to kill him, the female, and Franchise/{{Godzilla}}.]]* The eponymous threat of ''Film/{{Sharknado}}'' forces people to dodge falling sharks. At one point, the Hollywood sign also becomes a dangerous projectile. ''Film/Sharknado2TheSecondOne'' uses this trope to come up with what may be the first shark movie fatality caused by a whale shark.* In ''Film/DraculaUntold'', Vlad invokes this when he drops his bat army right on top of the Ottomans.* ''Film/WithoutWarning1994'' contains the ColonyDrop variety as launched by an unseen alien presence.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]* Zeus's Master Lightning Bolt in the ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' series is a prime example of this trope.-->"A two-foot long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives." "The bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."** Chiron to Percy in '''[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians The Lightning Thief]]'''* Three or more times in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' they have a plan that involved having one of them (usually Cassie) fly as high as possible, then turn into a whale over water. Proof that Nice doesn't mean Weak, because she (like all of them) has to turn human in between.** In the second-last book, Visser One kills the Auxiliary Animorphs and some of General Doubleday's troops by shooting the Pool ship's Dracon cannon from orbit.** Tobias whenever he's feeling hungry.*** Or in battle. ''TSEEEEEER!''* In the Darkwar Trilogy of the ''Literature/RiftwarCycle'', an epic-level demon is going through a portal connecting from the Dasati dimension to the [[spoiler:world of Kelewan]]. Pug's answer? Evacuate the world and drop the moon on top of the portal.** Pug did it a couple of decades before, by firebombing the flagship of an invading fleet. His fireball bounced back, however.* ''Literature/{{Anathem}}'' had Rodding. Very simple. Drop a large dense rod from orbit at hypersonic speeds [[spoiler:into a dormant volcano]]. Boom. Repeat.* In ''Literature/TheBigOne'', Nazi Germany gets the Quintessential Death from Above when it is wiped off the map by a rain of 232 atomic bombs dropped by B-36 bombers. The operation described actually used a real American warplan (AWDP-1) as its basis making this TruthInTelevision. The idea was to destroy German warmaking potential. It turned out doing that that meant destroying everything that went with it. And that meant everything.* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':** Used to unnerving yet [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious]] effect in ''Literature/BloodRites'', where a frozen turkey falling from a commercial airliner kills a vampire in a "freak accident" caused by a malicious curse. The 'done' button popping out is a nice touch.** This happens offscreen earlier in the book when Harry is told that an early victim of the curse was [[spoiler:hit by a runaway car... while waterskiing.]]** In ''Death Masks'', [[spoiler:Ebenezar [=McCoy=] killed a vampire who had challenged his former apprentice, Harry Dresden, to a duel (and had cheated). He did this by [[ColonyDrop pulling a soviet-era satellite from orbit]] and making it crash onto the vampire's compound, killing the vampire and most of his retinue (sadly it also killed the humans they fed from).]]* In the ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]]'' book ''The Horse and His Boy,'' the main villain, having somehow found himself at a higher elevation than his enemies, declares "The bolt of Tash falls from above!" leaping upon his enemies... and getting caught on a hook halfway down to dangle helplessly for the rest of the battle.** As if that wasn't bad enough, the villain - having not learned his lesson - repeats the above line again during a rant against the heroes, prompting one of them to [[DeadpanSnarker rub it in]] by asking, "Does it ever get caught on a hook halfway?" Apparently, yes, it does.* A similar system is described in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'', where a Moon colony uses metal-sheathed multiton rocks tossed at Earth as a weapon - a highly effective and cheap weapon - which would strike any point on Earth with the energy of a tactical nuclear strike.* Similarly, ''Shatterpoint'' had [=DOKAWs=], De-Orbiting Kinetic Anti-emplacement Weapons, described as 200-ton metal rods with thrusters on them. They were lethal, if somewhat less than accurate.* From the ''[[Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata Legacy of the Aldenata]]'' series by Creator/JohnRingo:** The Posleen invasion was lead off by kinetic weapon strikes on planetary defense centers and various pyramid structures around the world (due to a resemblance to similar structures set up by the Posleen, who consider them important).** In ''Hell's Faire'', the heroes and the entire population of earth, are totally screwed until [[spoiler: the fleet unexpectedly returns and uses kinetic bombardment to destroy every important target on the ground.]]** [[spoiler: O'Neal's team]] finds out what it's like to be on the receiving end of it, in ''The Eye of the Storm'' (free sneak preview available [[http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1439132739/1439132739.htm here]], containing the scene in question in Chapter Four).* The Western Galactic Empire of Robert Zubrin's ''Literature/TheHolyLand'' uses Psioray bombardment. Capable of wide-area bombardment, accurate to within one-tenth of a percent of the range fired, can be tuned to only affect specific groups of beings (even more specifically than species), and reduces the targets to less than an inch in height, while leaving, for instance, local birds, lizards, and predatory insects the same size. [[spoiler:Poor Peru. Poor Iowa.]]* ''The Ganymede Takeover'' (by Creator/PhilipKDick and Robert Nelson) has The Shaft, a miniature psychotropic autonomic dart fired from a satellite, used to kill (on an individual basis) a vast number of key technicians and leaders during the alien invasion.* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. In an interesting inversion, a group of renegades attempting to booby-trap a helicopter landing field are exposed to a counter-ambush when an orbiting solar mirror is suddenly turned on the area.* ''The Reality Dysfunction'' (part of the ''Literature/NightsDawn'' trilogy by Creator/PeterFHamilton). A special forces team floating down a river through enemy territory get some sudden and unexpected support when 5,000 precision-guided kinetic energy harpoons fired from a spaceship slam into the banks on either side. The harpoons are falling so fast no-one hears them until after they land. Then they ''really'' hear them.** The Kinetic-Energy Harpoon is mentioned, although not used on-page, in "The Nano Flower" by the same author; described as a "poor man's nuke"[[note]]Just a big lump of metal with an ablative heat-shield, although you do have to factor in how much it costs to get it into space and then bring it down again[[/note]], they were apparently used in the Slamdown War. That resulted in massive campaign to get a defensive system in orbit, designed specifically to stop them ever being used again. * In ''Literature/{{Footfall}}'' (by Creator/LarryNiven and Jerry Pournelle) the alien invaders have two versions of this. First, they use space-based lasers and the 'Rods From God' described below to destroy Earth's military forces and insurgents; later, after [[spoiler: Kansas is nuked to defeat their first invasion they land the eponymous 'Foot' (an asteroid) in the Indian Ocean to try to force Earth's surrender (it doesn't work)]].* In ''[[Literature/{{Conqueror}} Bones of the Hills]]'', when Jochi and Jebe are being pursued by Khalifa, Jochi sarcastically suggests dropping boulders on the Arabs. Jebe thinks that's a great idea. And it works.* In Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/DragonJousters'' series, Jousters [[DragonRider ride dragons]] and [[AirJousting Air Joust]] each other, when there are Jousters on each side of the war. When Jousters either don't find their enemy counterparts or manage to drive off or kill them, they turn on the ground armies, swooping down to have their dragons snatch up a commander, carry him high into the air... and drop him on his own forces. This is said to be highly demoralizing. One of the good Jousters, Ari, has a HeroicBSOD when the group of Jousters he was with, having some spare time, does this to the civilians in an enemy village, even joking about painting a target next time for more sport.* In ''Literature/TheDarkSideOfTheSun'' by Creator/TerryPratchett it's orbital bombardment with ''[[SpaceWhale eggs]]'':--> '''flying bot''': Crackdown in this area is forecast in ten minutes. Don your protective clothing or seek chthonic safety.--> '''flying bot''': Crackdown! Crackdown! Beware of the eggs!* Since flying warriors (Knights Aeris) are pretty much standard in any army in ''Literature/CodexAlera'', this was inevitable. But Tavi's idea for how to use his vast numbers of mediocre Knights (most of whom couldn't fly properly) against an army in the third book really [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome takes the cake]]: [[spoiler:he had them scale up a telescope spell, and had Max use the giant lens to turn the sunlight into a freaking ''DeathRay''.]]* ''Death from the Skies'' by Phil Plait, a mostly non-fiction book about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin all the ways the universe could kill us]].* In the Literature/WingCommander novel ''Fleet Action'', multiple Terran Confederation planets are bombarded from orbit by a massive [[CatFolk Kilrathi]] fleet the humans are unable to stop, using {{antimatter}} warheads and dirty nukes specifically employed to sterilize worlds.* ''Sky Masters'' by Creator/DaleBrown, a Chinese destroyer was about to nuke the city of Davao, the Americans neutralized it by dropping a satellite right on top of it.* Mentioned to have happened in the history of Wellakh in the Literature/YoungWizards series: their sun is somewhat unstable and flared, burning half the planet to a featureless plain and killing anyone who was there at the time, along with a good number of their wizards in the effort to stop it.* In Creator/JackMcDevitt's ''Literature/TheAcademyNovels'', the Omega Clouds are gigantic, mysterious artifacts which travel through the galaxy, coming in waves about 8,000 years apart. They investigate planets they pass, and rain down electrical death from the skies on any civilization foolish enough to use right angles in their architecture.* ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' acknowledges that if you just want to kill stuff that lives on the surface, nuking it from orbit is usually much more effective. Two problems with this: the Bugs ''don't'' live on the surface, and while the Skinnies do, the humans are hoping to turn them into allies/trading partners in the future and don't want to completely wipe them out.* As might be expected, the [[LensmanArmsRace Lensmen get into this particular Arms Race]]. If you're ''lucky'', they're just tossing bombs at you. If you get them ''really'' mad, they target you with [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale a couple of planets moving at several times]] ''[[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale c]]''. With diametrically opposed vectors. It's called the "nutcracker", and the results are described as the creation of a new, temporary star.* Bomber planes rain down destruction during the final battle in ''Literature/TheLeonardRegime''.* In the ''Literature/AgeOfFire'' series, this is how [[ActionGirl Wistala]] finishes off [[EvilOverlord Gobold Fangbreaker]]. When she sees him and his PraetorianGuard fleeing from the siege of his fortress on boat, she grabs a fallen longpoon (an artillery projectile that's basically a giant harpoon with a ball-and-chain on one end), carries it as far into the air as she can, and then drops it on the boat. Gobold is presumably either crushed or drowned in the process.* The final chapter of ''Literature/TheTenetsOfFutilism'' ends with the protagonist and her family dying after months of hiding out on Alcatraz Island. Their cause of death? Missile fire from a predator drone sent by the American government.* In Kim Stanley Robinson's ''2312'', most of the bases around the solar system have advanced systems to detect and protect them from meteor strikes. But they can't see the "pebble mob" - lots of tiny rocks launched independently [[ImprobableAimingSkills with exact precision from millions of miles away]], to land on the same spot at the same time. * The final attack by the [[Literature/TheFarsideTrilogy Voitusotar]] in The Lion Returns they launch a solar flare-based death ray that they could direct to hit whatever they want. [[spoiler: The only people it ever hits are voitu because Curtis Macurdy shorts out the spell.]]* The "Hard Rain" in ''Literature/{{Seveneves}}'' consists of a 5,000 year long bombardment of Earth by pieces of the [[DetonationMoon mysteriously exploded Moon]] [[spoiler: sterilizing the surface of the Earth]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]* In the pilot episode of ''Series/DeadLikeMe'', a toilet seat drops onto the main character ''from orbit'', killing her instantly.** Likewise in the opening of the TV spy movie ''Blue Ice'', MichaelCaine is attending the funeral of a friend killed by a chunk of ice that fell off an aircraft.** And yet again in [[Series/{{CSINY}} CSI: New York]], when a construction worker is found dead inside a port-a-potty, and the fecal residue found in the injury -- a hole in his head -- is justified early on as contamination from the scene. Turns out, he was the victim of a very, very unlucky (and timely) leak in an airplane stall.* The usual outcome of the Series/{{Lexx}} visiting a planet.* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' begins with the nuclear annihilation of humanity by the Cylons.** Toward the beginning of season 3 when liberating New Caprica, Adama decides to attack by jumping the Galactica into the atmosphere and launching its fighters and shuttles from there, jumping back out just before hitting the dirt.* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' has a scene [[spoiler:similar to ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' when the Atlantis team wipe out the Asurans with a new naquadah-enhanced bomb.]]** Subverted, at least in terms of effectiveness, when [[spoiler:the Asurans rebuild as if nothing happened, make MORE shipyards, and attack Atlantis in revenge.]]* ''Series/SonsOfGuns'' had an episode where the crew rigged a machine gun to be door-mounted on a helicopter. The episode ended with them shooting it at a junked car on the ground, [[EveryCarIsAPinto which exploded when it was hit]].* ''Series/RobotWars'' had the drop zone, where an immobilized robot would be placed on a spot on the arena floor and something would be dropped from the ceiling (including a television, an oven, bowling balls, and one of the VideoGames dropped a grand piano!)* The storms featured in ''Series/StormChasers'' frequently drop tornadoes, lightning, and hail big enough to smash an unprotected human skull on anyone unlucky enough to be in their path.* ''Series/BabylonFive'':** At the end of the second season, the Centauri use mass drivers to bombard the homeworld of their long-time enemies the Narns. In Season 3, the effects are shown -- including altered climate due to atmospheric dust.** Also almost the fate of Earth, at the end of Clarke's presidency of the Earth Alliance.** Later on, the Narn, with the help of the Drazi, proceed to Centauri Prime to return the favor, though they at least restrain themselves to only using conventional heavy weapons (causing untold thousands of deaths, as opposed to the Centauri's attack on Narn being essentially a WMD attack severe enough that even the Vorlons gave them a "WhatTheHellHero" response.* In ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'', this is how Venjix is ultimately defeated, [[spoiler:with Gem and Gemma shooting out the supports of the overhanging Command Center, causing the entire structure to fall right on top of Venjix's robotic form]].** This is how the Thunder Ultrazord from MightyMorphinPowerRangers' second season defeats enemies: Falling on them.* Franchise/StarTrek has shown cases of orbital bombardment a few times, and discussed the possibility a few times more. ''Recap/StarTrekS2E17APieceOfTheAction'' had ''non-lethal'' orbital bombardment (a precision phaser blast from the ''Enterprise'' set on stun).* ''Series/TheUnit'' never shows the plane, just a missile coming out of nowhere like the fist of an angry god. On one occasion the boys joked about it a little.--> '''Jonas:''' Does the State Department know [that you traded a terrorist for me]?\\'''Bob:''' No. But the Air Force does.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]* {{Marduk}}'s album Panzer Division Marduk has tanks, bombs and death as its theme. The song ''Baptism By Fire'' has the lines:-->Death from above - The hellfire will soon be unleashed-->Death rips the sky - Domination gives praise to the beast-->Death from above - Explosions is tearing your soul-->Death rips the sky - The bombing is reaching its goal-->Death from above - Death or glory, there is no way back-->Death rips the sky - Attack, attack, attack!* Dance-punk band Death From Above 1979** And by extension, CSS's song ''Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above''* VideoGame/JetsNGuns features the titular tune in its [[MachinaeSupremacy OST]].* The sweet ReginaSpektor has the sweetest song ''The Sword and the Pen'', which has the lines:-->What if the sword kills the pen-->what if God kills the man-->and if He does it with love-->well then it's death from above-->and death from above is still death* {{Sabaton}}'s song ''Firestorm'', being about the Allies' strategic bombing campaign of World War II, is all about this trope.-->Burn burn-->rage of the heavens-->burn burn-->death from above-->die die-->merciless killing-->burn burn-->death from above* ''Death from Above'' by {{Turbonegro}}.-->Flyin' in on the wings of destruction-->with freedom in our eyes-->it's the death from above-->and everybody dies[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinball]]* Creator/{{Gottlieb}}'s ''Pinball/{{Gladiators}}'' shows a shower of fireballs dropping out of the sky and onto the game's virtual reality landscape.* Creator/{{Bally}}'s ''Pinball/{{Wizard}}'' depicts the bombers from Captain Walker's bombing run.* This is a recurring theme of the "Ruiner" table of ''VideoGame/RuinerPinball''. In addition to a bomber and two NoseArt gals dropping bombs, the right side of the table has a family anxiously looking skyward as more bombs fall down.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]* ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'' has had multiple uses of this on all scales, from as small as an airstrike, to the UNSC Preston Cole doing orbital bombardments, and it doesn't even stop at having the entire solar system thrown at the godmodder.** Probably one of the most notable examples would be ninjatwist's meteor strike that completely obliterated the PG side in one shot.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]* "Death From Above" is also a maneuver from the miniatures wargame ''{{TabletopGame/Battletech}}'', father of western mecha, in which a jump- or flight-capable combat mech aims to land directly atop an opponent, with its plasma-based jumpjets firing. This maneuver is generally one of desperation because it stands a good chance of dumping both attacker and attacked on the ground where they will be easy targets for whoever wanders by or gets up first, but its effects are often devastating since mechs mount their cockpit in the head. Some larger mechs are specifically designed to carry it out such as the 90-ton ''Highlander'', leading to the term "Highlander burial" for a light mech getting landed on by an assault-class.** Given their firepower and bomb capacity, the larger fighters (aerospace or otherwise) of the setting can also qualify with regard to ground forces if used in the game. (Though the rules give the targets a fair chance of dropping even the biggest fighter out of the sky [[GlassCannon with a single hit]].) The ultimate example, though, at least before the Jihad era brought nukes back onto the battlefield, may be orbital bombardment like the infamous destruction of the city of Edo on the planet Turtle Bay by Clan Smoke Jaguar.* The {{CCG}} ''NetRunner'' has a powerful card named ''Death From Above''.** With a telling bit of flavor text: "They drop rocks; I commandeer battlesats." Needless to say, there's ''also'' a card with the meaningful name ''I Got A Rock'' that will under the right circumstances hit the Runner with enough 'meat damage' to flatline him or her about [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill three times over]]...* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''** Many Imperial vessels are capable of Exterminatus -- an extreme version of Death From Above, which leaves absolutely nothing living on a planet it hits.** 40k also includes each and every type of Death From Above listed--even hails of arrows on feudal worlds.** They even have multiple ways to perform Exterminatus, from virus-bombing (which destroys all unprotected organic material on a planet) to cyclonic torpedoes (which shatter the planet's crust).** In the game, the army most relying on this is the Imperial Guard. They are [[BadassNormal normal humans]]... With lot of artillery.* Numerous ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' spells such as [[PlayingWithFire Flame Pillar, Flame Strike, Meteor Shower]], [[KillItWithWater Storm of Vengeance]], [[AnIcePerson Hail Storm]], and [[ShockAndAwe Call Lightning]]. It's more common amongst Divine Spellcasters, because Gods enjoy this kind of smiting.** There's a frequently devised tactic relying on summoning and creation spells. Create a large rock five feet above your target's head and they die easily enough, or summon a horse over them, or whatever.*** As of at least 3.0 Edition, if not earlier, the rules for such spells explicitly do not allow this, as they specify that summoned creatures/items have to appear on the ground. However, there are still a few ways to accomplish something similar- the Earthquake spell can cause a cave in if cast in an underground cavern, while enemies can be buried alive by using Transmute Rock To Mud or [[FromBadToWorse Transmute Rock To Lava]] on a cave's ceiling.*** The spell Cometfall exists explicitly to do the summon rock trick as an actual attack spell.*** Dimension Door (4th level teleport, self + about 200lbs) + Feather Fall (2nd level, 'take no falling damage'). Choose your rock. Touch it. ''Dimension Door''. Drop the rock. The Forgotten Realms setting allows [[BizarreBiology Fey'ri]] (half-succubus elf) characters to do this at ''level one'', with an innate ability and wings.** There is a Tiger Claw technique in the ''Tome of Battle'' named Death From Above. You jump over your enemy, attack ForMassiveDamage, and then dismount anywhere next to the enemy.* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'' gave us the spells ''Comet of Casandora'', ''Forked Lightning'' and ''Uranon's Thunderbolt''. Pretty much ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.** Previous editions also had a particularly impressive exploit based around this trope: anything which went from "Flying High" to ground level without going through the intermediate steps did an impressive number of high strength wounds to itself and whatever it *ahem* "landed" on. This was bad enough with Gryphons, Dragons and Giant Eagles and so forth, but some creatures (like Greater Daemons) were immune to non-magical damage (including falling damage)...* ''NuclearWar''. 'nuff said.* Even space-combat game ''StarfleetBattles'' has a few in the Marines supplement for planetary combat. You can use Transporter Artillery (teleport a load of anti-personnel and anti-vehicular bombs over the enemy), or, should transporters not be feasible, load the bombs into a missile casing and have a fighter drop it as a cluster bomb. Then there's the fighters that can make strafing runs, and the dedicated ground-attack shuttles...* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': the {{MegaCorp}}s maintain Thor systems (see Real Life below). Rumor has it that the Corporate Court will only permit a corporation to drop a Thor shot on a target with an Omega Order sanction. The last time they were openly used was during the offensive against [[ApocalypseCult Winternight]] immediately before Crash 2.0. One was also deployed [[NoKillLikeOverkill specifically to kill Art Dankwalther]], who had been using his bequest from Dunkelzahn's will to attack Novatech.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': A favoured tactic of Swoop, of the Dinobots, who likes to drop TNT on his enemies while scaring the crap out of them in his pterodactyl mode.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]* Sephiroth in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Both by [[spoiler:almost]] obliterating the world with Meteor, and he pops ''out of nowhere'' by the end of Disc 1 to deliver Death From Above to [[spoiler:Aeris]].** There's also the Bahamut ZERO summon spell, wherein the eponymous [[GiantFlyer dragon]] blasts the user's unfortunate adversaries ''[[KillSat from orbit]]''.** As well as one of Cid's Limit Breaks: he calls in an airstrike from the Highwind.* ''ActOfWar'', being a RealTimeStrategy game set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, brings loads and loads of opportunities to unleash death upon your enemies from above, bonus points since the mechanics and visuals have a sense of realism which is reinforced with RealLife units like B-2 and the Tu-160 bombers, just to give two examples, oh, and if you want the game has no population limits for building them or [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Tactical Weapons]].* Of note here are the A.I. characters from ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', one of whom described a plan to destroy the power station of the Pfhor on the planet Lh'owon as, effectively, "Step one: drop an asteroid on the roof of the (underground) power plant. Step two: drop the BadAss protagonist down the hole." This is about 25% of the way through ''Marathon 2: Durandal'', and similar plans occur elsewhere in Bungie games (The [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Master Chief]] in a drop pod is more dangerous than a warship)** In ''Marathon 2'', the titular Durandal tells you he is "Introducing the Pfhor (the main enemies at that point in time) to the joys of orbital bombardment." Of special note is that throughout this level, as you progress, the occasional distant and muted rumbling boom can be heard. Presumably Durandal enjoys what he's doing a little TOO much. Then again, he is [[AIIsACrapshoot QUITE rampant]].*** It's worse. That's Durandal once he's STABLE.* The BigBad proves herself able in ''{{Drakengard}}'' when she launches [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM14PBS3GDc fireballs that explode with the force of a nuclear blast]] against the recently victorious army of the protagonist.* After having become [[AGodAmI the incarnation of magic]]; BigBad, MonsterClown and [[NietzscheWannabe nihilistic whack-o]] Kefka Palazzo from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' picked up the nice little hobby of annihilating any- and everything he didn't like with the [[WaveMotionGun "Light of Judgement"]], a massive, magical beam from the skies.* "Death from Above" also happens to be the name of a [[http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Death_from_Above giant bee Notorious Monster]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', which fits under the GiantFlyer subsection.** The Dragoon class from throughout the series qualifies, since their main ability is just to jump up into the air and crash down into enemies with their spears.** The Yovra enemies in Al'Taieu also qualify for this trope. They hover around in the sky and can't be targeted...until they hear you, promptly dropping down to dispense death to the unlucky party.** The recurring Comet and Meteor spells certainly count.* Although all the biggest lightning spells come from above, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'''s Thundaga definitely looks the most impressive, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p6CjEOdfws almost like a small-scale reverse-Eden.]]* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', the esper Exodus' ultimate attack drops a [[Film/{{Armageddon}} meteor the size of Texas]] on your enemy's head.** Its a reoccurring theme in almost all of the big summons in ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''. Examples are almost all of Bahamut's summonings, one of which involves him firing a [[EarthShatteringKaboom Moon Killer]] which blasts through the moon to reach its target. Other notable ones are Eden from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' and Ark from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', which combines KillSat with CoolAirship. It is as cool as it sounds.** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' might be the number one for most Death From Above scenes in one game. There's Odin who [[spoiler: Zantetsukens an entire city into ash,]] The Invincible which {{nuke|Em}}s [[spoiler: Alexandria and Alexander simultaneously not to mention having done the same to the Maiden Sari in a flashback. Plus there's Kuja whose Ultima Spell is a horrifying combination of PlanetKiller, NukeEm, and RocksFallEverybodyDies.]]* In the later ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' games, jumping into a group of enemies from a high enough elevation (usually on horseback) results in an 'Ambush' situation, where the enemies are temporarily terrified (causing them to attack rarely, while also reducing their defense.)* Appropriately enough, ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' has a level called ''Death From Above'' in which you provide close air support from an AC-130U gunship. For the uneducated, the AC-130U has a left-side-mounted 25mm [[GatlingGood GAU-12 Equalizer]], one 40 mm L/60 Bofors cannon and one 105 mm M102 howitzer. The Bofors was usually used as an AA gun, and the M102 is usually used in an indirect-fire artillery role. Using it as a direct-fire weapon from the side of a large cargo plane was something of a stroke of genius. Check TheOtherWiki for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AC-130 more.]]** You can also call in airstrikes and gunships during missions like ''Safehouse'' and ''Heat'', or during multiplayer if you can kill enough people without dying yourself.** SequelEscalation gives ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'''s multiplayer sentry guns that drop for you to place, a missile from a Predator drone for you to control as it falls, a targeted air strike, a Harrier airstrike followed by a fourth Harrier that loiters in the area, launching missiles and firing its Vulcan, a Cobra or Hind (depending on which side) helicopter to fly around the battlefield attacking enemies, a heavily armored (two missiles to kill instead of one) Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low to fly around attacking enemies even more effectively, a B2 Spirit bomber which delivers an airstrike that the enemy cannot see coming, an AH-64 Apache with you in the gunner seat, an AC-130 gunship with you again at the guns, and if you can get a 25 kill streak... you can launch a tactical nuke which kills everyone and ends in game in your favor. For balance reasons, you may only use up to 3 unique killstreaks per match. You may also call in care packages for you in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'' for help which don't kill anyone alone -- unless the crate falls on someone.*** The Care Package or the Emergency Airdrop (4 Care Packages in one go) however may randomly contain any of those killstreak rewards, meaning you can get Death from Above [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment in your Death from Above]]. [[Memes/OtherInternet Yo Dawg.]]** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' adds such killstreaks as calling in a Huey and firing a minigun mounted at its side door, ''or'' call in an Apache or Hind gunship ''with you at the controls''.* ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' has plenty of powerful airstrike Superweapons. Mail Strikes, MB Bombs, Mike's Carpet Bombs, French Sheep Strikes, Concrete Donkeys, and Armageddon all rain death on opposing worms. OK, that last one, as you might expect from the name, rains death on [[RocksFallEveryoneDies everyone]], but the point stands.* In ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'', the Space Marines special unit - Assault Marines has this phrase as a battlecry. The same faction also uses drop pods in a planetary assault. The commander unit can call in an Orbital Bombardment as well.** In ''[[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Dawn of War 2]]'', the Assault Marines actually do damage in the single-player by dropping down - in the multiplayer, they knock infantry down.* In ''CompanyOfHeroes'' the paratroopers have this as a battlecry, as well.** They can also use the more direct version of this trope with the ability to call in strafing runs and bombing runs from P-47s. Meanwhile, the Panzer Elite Luftwaffe tactics can order Henschel Hs-129s to patrol a point, wiping out whole fleets of Allied vehicles with their 75mm cannon, and the Brits can call in gliders full of Commandos. And let's not even get started with the artillery...* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'''s BigBad destroys the future by burrowing from the ground, and then pelting the globe with its spines. While fighting it, it also does something similar with a move called "Destruction rains from the heavens!"** When Lavos first falls from space during the prehistoric age it is also certain death [[spoiler:for the Reptites and dinosaurs, as its fall [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs causes an ice age, and thus their extinction]].]]* ''VideoGame/HaloWars'' lets players who are playing as the UNSC faction call down fire from the MAC gun (Magnetic Accelerator Cannon) of an orbiting warship, or, mixing this with ItsRainingMen, they can drop [=ODSTs=] (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) on enemy positions. In addition the Covenant Prophet faction can call down an orbital laser beam which can be left active indefinitely (and steered around) assuming you have the resources.* The Bard class in the text game ''{{Achaea}}'' has an ability named Death From Above, which allows them to jump from the trees directly onto a target to deliver significant damage. (they even scream out "Death From Above!" when they do it).* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' has several varieties, mostly in the form of summons:** GiantFlyer - the Fusion Dragon, more or less. Also, the Eclipse summon, which is essentially a dragon which breathes [[FrickinLaserBeams lasers]].** KillSat - Judgement and Catastrophe; arguably also the unleashed attack of the Phaeton's Blade, sending FrickinLaserBeams down on the target.** Meteor - [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Meteor summon]], and a more localized version in the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Sol Blade's]] "Megiddo" unleash.** NukeEm - would be several, if the party didn't mysteriously disappear at the beginning; most {{egregious}}ly Charon*** Or alternatively, the [[BigBad Doom Dragon's]] attack, Cruel Ruin, which appears to shoot a chain of exploding beams, each destroying massive areas of land. Also, the Daedalus summon, which brings out a giant ancient-looking robot that shoots several small missiles that hit immediately and a final, huge one, which three turns later, hits [[ForMassiveDamage for a large explosion]].** RainOfArrows - Atalanta.* The aptly named "Galaxy Drops" in perpetual MMOFPS ''{{Planetside}}'' are carefully organized raids involving a fleet of ''Galaxy'' transports, each carrying a full squad of troopers, exosuit warriors, and a fully staffed vehicle, along with the Galaxy's own gunners and other air support.** In Planetside 2, the Galaxy makes a comeback, along with the Liberator gunship, which can carry a quad 30mm gatling turret or a 150mm cannon for bombarding ground targets.* One of the most dangerous scenarios in ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} Battlefield 2142]]'' is a fully-loaded Air Transport. Though less menacing than planetside drops (since there are at most two transports available per side), there is more than enough destruction aboard in the form of two vehicle-mounted cannons for infantry, engineers with anti-vehicle weapons and mines, as well as two engineers designated as mid-flight repairmen (who can easily repair most damage). Only a concerted attack by the enemy (or an extremely lucky kamikaze transport pilot) can hope to stop the assault.** ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} Battlefield 2's]]'' "cartillery". Air-dropped ground vehicles crush the shit out of anything it lands on. Also done supply crates.* The {{Ground Pound}}s, like Bowser's Bowser Bomb in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series certainly applies as a certain kind of Death From Above, as does Link's Down Air attack.** And Yoshi's Yoshi Bomb, Kirby's Stone and Cutter, Ike's Aether and Dedede's Super Dedede Jump as well.** In addition to standard moves that involve attacking from above your opponent (i.e Spiking and Meteor Smashes), many [[LimitBreak final smashes]] in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' bring Death From Above onto the battlefield. Notable examples: [[VideoGame/EarthBound Ness and Lucas']] PK Starstorm, [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Pit]] summoning [[TheCavalry Palutena's army]], [[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} King Dedede]] and his Waddle Dees, [[Franchise/MetalGear Snake's]] Grenade assault from a helicopter, [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Lucario's]] [[KamehameHadoken Aura Storm]], and all three [[VideoGame/StarFox Landmasters]].* In ''MetroidPrime 3'', Samus can call in an air strike from her CoolShip once she has acquired the correct PowerUp and is in an open area. This kills most ordinary {{Mooks}} and is needed to destroy certain objects her suit weaponry cannot destroy.** The Screw Attack usually functions this way.* The Orcish Wind Riders of ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' will sometimes scream "Death From Above!" when given an order to fly in and throw envenomed spears at enemies below.** [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Rawrbomb.]]*** For the ignorant, a "rawrbomb" is a maneuver pulled off by Druids; shapeshift into a flying form, find a convenient location over your target, then shift into bear form and drop like a stone. When you get within range of the target, pop "CHARGE!" and hurl yourself at the target, smashing into them and landing without damage. Tricky to do, easy to fail, and impressive to see.*** Warriors can pull off the same trick.* Massed artillery in ''VideoGame/WargameEuropeanEscalation'' is an extremely effective tactic. Building [[CripplingOverspecialization an entire]] [[GlassCannon army]] out of artillery, on the other hand, almost never works, but is, on occasion, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarious]].* Before the development patch that changed the mechanics of the archetype, a common method of garnering a high amount of damage very quickly for a Blaster in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' was to gain altitude (either through a flight-based power or by ascending a skyscraper) and to drop to the ground below, near the enemy. The original Blaster design included an advantage wherein more damage would be dealt by suffering damage, and since the game doesn't let you die from falling damage directly, you were assured to ring off at least one good blast before you inevitably were torn to pieces.* [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Sakura's]] THE CREATE super in ''MagicalBattleArena'' has her dropping a ton of King Penguin playground slides all over the battlefield.* [[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} Storm's]] snow storm super in the ''[[CapcomVsWhatever Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' games. Or, as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZUMjoxfZA this video]] would say, '''MAKE IT RAIN!'''* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', the Soviets can drop orbital debris ranging from satellites to space stations on their enemies, along with any vehicles they picked up with their magnetic satellites.** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'', um... Ion cannon.** And Nod's nukes. And chemical missiles. Or the Scrin's Overlord's Wrath and the Rift Generator. VideoGame/CommandAndConquer sure likes their superweapons.** The three factions of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' uses often this trope: scuds / nuke / Ion cannon, paratroopers drops, [[BigBulkyBomb huge bombs dropped from bombers]], artillery shells, planes and helicopters (missiles, machine guns, napalm)... Requires superpowers or standard units, depending of which you want.*** In the ''Zero Hour'' expansion, there's especially a US subfaction which sticks deeply to this trope : an US general specialized in air forces. He also uses the phrase "death from above" as a taunt.*** And then there's the Harrier from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' who sometimes says "death from above" when ordering it to attack something.* ''PhantasyStarOnline'' loves doing this with the final bosses of Episodes 1, 2, and 4 with each boss having an attack that rains destruction on the party. Dark Falz has "Heaven Punishment," in which he puts a slow-down effect on the party before firing skywards, raining beams of light down randomly (which are somehow dodgeable), Olga Flow has "God's Punishment" which is an instant kill if it connects, and the snake trio in Episode 4 has "Divine Punishment" which fires down a single beam that causes a shockwave that can't be avoided, but does less damage the farther away you are.** Player characters can do this as well with the "Divine Punishment" special, which targets up to 16 enemies in front of them and blasts them with light-elemental beams. Of course, since it's the player using it, it's nowhere near as effective... unless it's tagging enemies for experience points, or an area that's extremely allergic to holy rays of death.* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' includes the Hammer of Dawn, the targeting laser for an [[KillSat Orbital Death Beam]]. The sequel adds the Mortar, which has a nearly vertical arc allowing the player to wreak death from above. Then you include the gunships, the [[GoddamnBats Kryll]], and the [[DeathWorld razor-sharp killer]] [[DeathWorld ''rain'']] and it just goes bananas.* ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' has an ion painter, a targeting laser for two flavors of Death From Above; either an Ion Cannon from a KillSat, or a bomber that cruises across the sky and splodes the whole place up.* Doctor Weil holds the world hostage by way of KillSat in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 4''. When that plan gets foiled, he decides to use the space fortress for a ColonyDrop - two versions of the trope for the price of one villain.** In ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce 3'' [[spoiler: the same thing more or less happens again.]]* In the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' verse, the Covenant fleet plasma-bombards planets into molten glass.** ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' brings us the target locator, in which you can laze targets for artillery. *** At the end of Tip of the Spear, the supercarrier Long Night of Solace delivers a DFA attack on the frigate Grafton.** ''Halo 4'' introduced targetable ordinance drops. While intended to supply the user with a weapon, the drop will also insta-kill most players if they're standing under it.* ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' revolves around this; every populated planet and non-planet in the universe is being bombarded by multicolored meteors that, if left by themselves, will make the planet ''{{e|arthShatteringKaboom}}xplode.''* An Umgah representative in ''VideoGame/StarControl 2'' mentions doing this [[ForTheEvulz for the lulz]]: "It so much easier to make good jokes without boring old Ur-Quan slave laws! We wanting to pull a real good one on those stupid nosers from Draconis for long time but since they battle thralls too, we not allowed do even small pranks on them like, say... dropping planetoid in their ocean. Big waves! Big waves! Har! Har! Har!"* ''StarCraft'' not only features the many, many kinds of aircraft (such as Zerg Guardians) that can gun down your poor defenseless Protoss Zealots from above, but there's also the Terran {{nuke|Em}}, which does either 400 points of damage straight up or two-thirds of the target's max health (enough to kill the Overmind itself in two shots). And in the upcoming sequel, the Protoss Mothership will possess the ability to concentrate vast amounts of damage straight down, crispy-frying anything not able to run away.*** 'Fraid not, the sequel nerfed the Mothership. Only the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast ''Purifier'']] can do that now, but it [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill blows up entire communities]].** If you could get the resources together to build them, nothing was more awesome than tooling around with a squadron of battlecruisers (except possibly tooling around with a squadron of carriers).*** Trump Card: On certain levels, a squadron of battleships AND a squadron of carriers.* The Tasen and the Komato in VideoGame/{{Iji}} have what is called the Alpha Strike, which involves a bunch of ships firing lasers at a planet. The Tasen use it before the game (at half power!) to kill almost all of humanity (along with most other life), and the Komato almost fire it at at full power near the end, which would have destroyed the planet.* In ''WorldInConflict'', half the point of the game is calling in a truly vast array of support firepower - small mortar strikes, large artillery barrages, cluster bombs, smart bombs, chemical strikes, carpet bombing, and even the infamous nuke.* Destruction Derby-like game ''Demolition Racer'' has this: when a car lands on top of another car, the bottom car is immediately destroyed, resulting in the ''Death from above'' bonus, which gives you substantially more points than any other attack. It's also the hardest move to perform and only a handful of tracks give you the opportunity to perform a high enough jump to crash on top of your opponents.* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has a number of attacks that fit this. Doom Desire sends up a wish that, after a few turns, results in an ''enormous'' blast of silvery-purple light that completely annihilates the opponent. Judgment is similar, but it [[GameBreaker requires no charge time, is much stronger, can be any type]], and is [[PurposefullyOverpowered only learnable by]] [[OlympusMons Arceus]], ''the creator of the universe''. Thunder calls forth a bolt of lightning from the heavens to strike down the foe, and Draco Meteor creates a catastrophic meteor storm. Weather Ball sends up a small ball of energy that absorbs the power of the current weather, charges up, and falls back down to hit the enemy. Solarbeam (currently) drops an ''enormous'' column of weaponized sunlight on the enemy.* Far, far, far too common in ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' arena fights against the heavies near the first rank. Most players have more trouble getting to the dude at rank 1 than beating him. The grenade happy psycho ex-con in [=AC2=] destroyed many a PS2 controller.** Permaflight has been a viable tactic since the very first game; what flavor of death being rained down varies from good ol' rifles, grenades, [[MacrossMissileMassacre MMM-style]] barrages, and even some snipers take to the air and pelt you with precision sniper rounds. This all was thought to end with Armored Core V's heavy reliance on buildings to even achieve height at all, but as it turns out, some [=ACs=] are just better at staying afloat and rain death upon the poor sods below. Except when the one below is a [[TankGoodness tank AC]] that is ready to rain bullets ''up''...* There's a tactic called "Death From Above" in the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' games, which involves using your jump jets to levitate your 'Mech and then [[GoombaStomp crashing it down on top of an enemy 'Mech]]. Obviously, since this will damage your 'Mech as well (and requires very precise piloting to pull off), it's viewed largely as a last-ditch desperate gambit... but RammingAlwaysWorks.** ''Mechwarrior Living Legends'' has the Long Tom Artillery Tank, a 90 ton vehicle that fires a 200kg high-explosive shell capable of smiting battlemechs from over a kilometer away or a mere 100 meters away when fired like a mortar. Inscribed on the barrel are the words ''DEATH FROM AFAR!''* ''VideoGame/{{Mercenaries}} 2'' lives and breathes this trope, allowing the player to call in everything from Tomahawk missiles to Tac Nukes... for the right price.** So much so that [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] calls the game "Airstrikes 2: Hooray for Airstrikes" and this article's Quotes page has no less than ''three'' quotes involving it.* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'' has a partial example with the Goomba Storm technique. Bowser orders a squad of Goombas to ZergRush the enemy. The player must then tap at the Goombas with the stylus to make Bowser set them on fire, upon which they leap into the air, raining fiery death upon the enemy at the end.* In the opening sequence to ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', your character jumps off a balcony, right foot first. Did I forget to mention that [[spoiler: an enemy's head is directly below your right foot when you do it? If you're curious, 500 pounds of force on someone's head via a diving boot tends to end a conflict]].* ''[[VideoGame/{{Syndicate}} Syndicate Wars]]'' has a weapon called Satellite Rain, which is a fictional version of Project Thor mentioned in the RealLife section.* ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' FanVid [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhVFsvWfqfM Day of Darkness II]] features Gallente [[AttackDrone Sentry Drones]] performing an orbital bombardment. Also, Admiral Tovil-Toba performs a ColonyDrop with his multi-kilometer spaceship.** And EVE players can provide orbital fire support to their allies playing ''[[VideoGame/DustFiveOneFour Dust 514]]''.* Once you reach DEFCON 1 in ''[[VideoGame/EndWar Tom Clancy's EndWar]]'', you can deploy a WMD, which for the JSF and EFEC means calling in either a kinetic strike or a [[FrickinLaserBeams frickin laser beam]] from either faction's KillSat.* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'''s Alex Mercer does this repeatedly, except he does it with his own body. So it's kind of [[ItsRainingMen It's Raining a Man]] and GoombaStomp. Not that he cannot also hijack aircraft with an unusually large supply of ammunition and use them.* ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'': Laharl's ultimate attack,Meteor Impact [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin is exactly what it sounds like]]** Generic Star spells, especially at mid- and high-levels, fall under this, too. In ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'', other characters had variations--Sword users, Spear users, Adell, Rozalyn...* Three of the Imperial class's abilites in ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' fit the bill. The Imperial Agent's Orbital Bombardment skill calls in a KillSat. The Inquisitor can conquer a storm of lightning strikes, and the [[HiredGuns Bounty Hunter]]'s is even called "Death From Above", flying into the air and raining missiles down from above.* Franchise/MassEffect: ** Near the climax of [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]], AcePilot Joker drops the [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier Mako APC]] almost on top of Saren, from the [[CoolStarship Normandy]].** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': The overhauled Normandy SR-2 provides air support on occasion, like when it does a GunshipRescue for [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] and [[FourStarBadass Admiral]] [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Anderson]] from the [[AlienInvasion invasion of]] [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs Earth]], at the beginning of the game.** Also in the third game, this trope is how Shepard kills a Reaper (destroyer-class) on Rannoch: by using a targeting laser to smite it with the combined firepower of [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill the entire quarian fleet. Seven times.]]* Air Strike mode in ''SplitSecond'' has you racing down the track while a helicopter rains down missiles on you. In the airport race, one [[StuffBlowingUp Power Play]] drops an airplane on your opponents - and it's not just a small plane dropping from a crane. ''[[UpToEleven A jumbo jet crash lands on the runway]]''.* In the DBZ Games (Raging Blast at least) Base Super Buu has a move that could be called this. He stands still, one hand in the air, and fires Ki blasts straight up. He's only vulnerable for a few split seconds before the ki blasts come back down, stunning you and knocking you to the ground.* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' we have the Bolting (Anima), Eclipse (Dark) and Purge (Light) magical tomes, allowing the user to attack a target far from their normal one space reach. If a boss has them as one of their weapons, expect them to use it to let you know that [[WakeUpCallBoss they're not to be trifled with.]] ''Specially'' if we're talking about Ursula from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Blazing Sword]]'', whose Bolting is ''infamously'' strong -- to the point of "giving birth" to the "FUCKING BOLTIIIIING" [[MemeticMutation minor meme.]]** This was also how [[spoiler: the Battle of Barhera]] finished in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Genealogy of the Holy War]]''. Death by [[spoiler: a "fire rain" via the Meteor spell, courtesy of the court magicians under the orders of the MagnificentBastard who has just killed your leader. Aaaaaahhhhh!!!]]* ''VideoGame/DuneII''. The Harkonnen can launch a Death Hand missile from their palace(s). It can devastate an enemy complex.* In the 2009 ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' Spencer has a ground pound named after this trope. It can only be executed by jumping from great heights.* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has the Judgment spell used by Collette, [[spoiler:Mithos, and Kratos]] that rained holy light all over. In the OVA [[spoiler:Kratos]] wipes out a dragon riding army of Renegades with Judgment beams from the clouds.** Many different spells throughout the Franchise/TalesSeries in general like Burn Strike, Meteor Storm, and Indignation come down from the sky. A more bizarre recurring example is the Pow Rain spell, which rains ''toy squeaky hammers'' that stun (And in some games damage) whatever they land on.* Ezio learns how to assassinate from above partway through ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII Assassin's Creed]]''.** And in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' you can signal your recruits, [[ParanoiaFuel who always are watching from the rooftops, invisible until you call them]], to obliterate rather huge enemy groups by a RainOfArrows.* Battles against enemy colonies in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' often culminate in orbital bombardment. Interestingly, for early and part of the midgame trans-atmospheric Assault Shuttles are more effective at dealing anti-colony damage.* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''[='s=] Druid class has 2 spells that shoot a beam of energy from the sky down onto the target.** Warlocks came make it rain fire. Mages can make it rain ice. And they team up and do it at the ''same time''.* ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault''[='s=] Multiplayer mode features a rare, but incredibly powerful weapon which invokes this Trope. It is a cylinder that, when planted in the ground, fires a multitude of [[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows colored rockets]] that spread out and bombard the local area. This weapon achieves the widest spread but lowest density if you plant it on the nose of an Arwing you're flying high in the air.* VideoGame/{{Fallout}}, despite the fact that it's literally taking place in a world that had been in love with nukes, has very few instances of this. Specifically coming to mind are the KillSat facilities you can commandeer in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' (''Broken Steel'''s first mission is titled "Death From Above", and Liberty Prime is destroyed this way during that quest) and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. Vegas also has the Boomers, a formerly-Vault-dwelling tribe that ended up taking over an air force base loaded with artillery cannons. If you befriend them and complete their quests, they not only help out in the [[GrandFinale Assault on Hoover Dam]] with their cannon, but with a fully restored [[CoolPlane B-29 Superfortress]], against a bunch of guys in leather armor with machetes.* In ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonNeon'', one of the late-game enemies, the levitating sorcerer Bao Boshi, has one of his most devastating attacks named after this trope.* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Having the higher ground affords a tactical advantage to pretty much all of the classes, but the Soldier in particular earns an achievement called "Death From Above" by killing enough enemies in that fashion.* ''VideoGame/AceCombat''. Many missions are ground attack missions, and you usually can pick how to rain death the enemy. Comes in flavors of multi-targeting missiles, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill Fuel-Air Explosive bombs]] (just picture a very small nuke explosion), anti-ship missiles, fire-and-forget bomblet dispensers, more bombs of other sizes, bomblet dropping, and [[MacrossMissileMassacre rocket spam.]] That's not counting the death ray of a [[MoreDakka machine gun]] the A-10A has. Did I mention even a fighter can use many of these? It's not just multiroles or attackers anymore.** In ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', there's also the KillSat variant. The "Ark Bird" is a white huge manned aircraft that flies in the upper atmosphere layers, and is armed with a [[FrickinLaserBeams laser weapon]] that can shoot down and destroy everything in a large radius. Ace Combat 3 gets you to ''use'' one. The Kill Sat in that iteration will kill anything in one hit, unless when you're indoors (yes, you get to go indoors every once in a while).** ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' ups the ante using the ASM, or Air Strike Mode. Attackers and Multirole-type planes can perform ASM to basically rain death with their special weapons, that gets a much faster reload and hence a literal rain of bombs can occur. This can also happen in multiplayer with ''many'' players [=ASMing=] the enemy base all at once.*** From the same game, Bomber planes does this in ASM, raining loads of dumb bombs a lot at once, or switching to lock-on capable Guided Precision Bombs. The Bomber is also available in Multiplayer, but with the limitation of only being selectable when the friendly base is below 30%, has no defenses aside from flares, and cannot attack unless a proper ASM point has been established, making it AwesomeButImpractical.* One of the reasons why the default missile warheads in ''SwordOfTheStars'' are nuclear (the other being that conventional explosives are useless in space). And by no means the only method, assault shuttles, [[SyntheticPlague biowar missiles]], [[ColonyDrop siege drivers]], and to be honest nearly all starship weapons are devastating to planets.* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' introduced a combat technique called the Finishing Blow, a OneHitKill that involves Link jumping very high in the air and coming down to [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impale the foe]] on his sword. The same technique reappears in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]''. In both games, [[spoiler: it is used to finish the final boss]].* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'':[[spoiler:Viridi]] is fond of using Reset Bombs (designed reset the Earth to its natural state) as meteors to [[KillAllHumans kill the humans]] or [[spoiler:strike down the Aurum]].* ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'': In the main entryway scene, Fritz will jump from the top and land on top of Lance, killing him and making a grave. This is [[ImpactSilhouette easily avoided]].* This is one of Sicthe Meister's new moves in ''{{Rosenkreuzstilette}} Freudenstachel''; she [[TimeStandsStill stops time]], leaps up, resumes time and comes crashing down on the player's head with a giant block from nowhere that shatters upon impact with the floor. We guess she must've learned a lot from [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Dio]] lately.* The BigBad of [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]], Alduin, has a unique Dragon Shout that only he can perform. The effects are telling: the sky turns darker, a vortex of cloud appears in the sky, and ''meteors start falling down''. This is so effective that, in a FanVid, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM1ORuAy9yA 100 archers]] can easily kill three [[EliteMooks Elder Dragons]], but all of them were annihilated by this move alone by Alduin.** Note that the Dragonborn can call forth a thunderstorm with similar "cloud vortex in the sky" effect. The main difference is the fact that the effect's cooldown takes ages, while Alduin can cast his version back-to-back.* [[VideoGame/SplinterCell Splinter Cell]] series loves this. One of Sam Fisher's signature move it to climb onto overhead pipes and such to drop on enemies or strangle them, etc.* At one point in ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'', you have to clear out a hostile camp with mortars. Your first shot is an aerial recon camera that you use to direct your fire. The game takes a turn for the dark when you discover that your only ammunition is white phosphorous. The game then takes an even darker turn when you have to cross the now burned-out camp on foot and get an up-close look at your horrific handiwork. The game manages to go ''even darker'' when [[spoiler: you find a mass of dead refugees, all burned beyond recognition]].* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', the player has a nightmare vision of Manhattan under attack by the sky city of Columbia, emerging from moonlit clouds to rain righteous fire on its heathen streets. Later, [[spoiler:the dream turns out to be a premonition of a BadFuture timeline in which a brainwashed Elizabeth assumes power over the city and uses it and her vast transdimensional powers to conquer the world (and possibly the {{Multiverse}})]]* ''VideoGame/{{Rage}}'' opens with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99942_Apophis 99942 Apophis]] slamming into Earth.* ''VideoGame/{{Wolf}}'' will teach you to fear planes and helicopters; human snipers armed with {{Instant Death Bullet}}s prowl the skies with them, just looking for a wolf to shoot. If you see one coming, don't even bother barking to alert your packmates; just tuck your tail between your legs and '''''scram''''', because if that shadow touches you, you're going down in one hit.* "Meteor Strike" is one of the most expensive spells in vanilla ''VideoGame/{{Clonk}}''. It can be modified to drop liquid granite or monster eggs.* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter''[='=]s Bow class has the Arc ability, which shoots an arrow up into the air, which then falls back down as one of several different special attacks, such as a RainOfArrows or an explosive blast, depending on the bow's listed Arc skill.* In ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfLomax'', there are enemies in the first world who fly in balloons and throw bombs at you.* ''Videogame/{{Warframe}}'' provides players with a few ways to employ this trope:** The Zephyr Warframe excels at this trope. One of her powers launches her high in to the air, where players can take advantage of her lowered gravity to rain rockets and gunfire on helpless enemies below. She also has the Dive Bomb power that immediately [[GroundPound launches her straight in to the ground]] where she produces a [[ShockwaveStomp damaging shockwave]] garunteed to knockdown almost all enemies in the game. And the damage out of this power grows the further she falls.** All melee weapons in the game feature [[SwordPlant drop attacks]] in some form but certain weapons have special moves that embody this trope. The Prova, an electrified baton, radiates electricity from the point of impact in, Heat Sword variants create a blast of fire, and the Jat Kittag, a [[RocketPoweredWeapon jet hammer]], creates a shockwave so strong it can launch crowds of enemies extreme distances along with easily killing them.** A modification players can equip on their Warframe, Heavy Impact, applies a damaging shockwave to players who fall sufficiently fast enough. But when combined with Zephyr's aforementioned Dive Bomb power they become a devastating crowd-clearer.* ''VideoGame/{{Gruntz}}'':** The birds in "Trouble In The Tropicz" drop giant bird poop that kills any gruntz in a 3x3 radius.** The aircraft in "High On Sweetz" drop exploding packages that kill any gruntz in a 3x3 radius.** The spotlights in "High Rollerz" force your gruntz to sing if any of those spotlights catches on them. Since your gruntz can't sing properly, a trapdoor opens up underneath them and removes them from the game.** The [=UFOs=] in "Gruntz In Space" have two searchlights that instantly melt any gruntz that come into contact with it.* [[TheAnnouncer Death from above!]]\\Round 1\\''[[VideoGame/DiveKick DIVEKICK!]]''* One of the powers in ''VideoGame/{{Godus}}'' is the metor; allows to you wipe out anything in a small area creating a nice crater too.* "VideoGame/Pikmin": This trope occurs in the second game inside the caves. While smaller enemies can fall from the sky, bomb rocks and regular rocks can fall in huge amounts as well. There are cases where the rocks or enemies will only fall in certain circumstances, like when you're picking up a treasure.* ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'' has the Howitzer mobile turret for the Americans and the DirtyCommunists, which can rain death from over a kilometer away. The sequel with its asymmetrical units has the ISDF Bomber - the most expensive unit - in the game which can OneHitKill anything bar the [[MobileFactory Recycler]] via the "Daywrecker" bomb and flies above the engagement height of most units. The Scions get the Archer, which functions like the Howitzers in the original game but with the addition of being able to fly before anchoring down.-->Bomber: ''Roger that sir, [[IrrevocableOrder coordinates LOCKED]], orders received... Bombs are away, good day sir!''* The supernatural bosses in ''VideoGame/DeadfallAdventures'' like to use this sort of attack, in addition to summoning {{Mook}}s. A glowing circle will appear beneath you and slowly grow in size, accompanied by an ominous rumbling. Stay on or near the circle for too long and noisy, fiery death shall be visited upon you.* ''Videogame/{{WorldOfTanks}}'' has two flavors of this:** Artillery, which lob high-explosive shells all the way across the map, frequently landing on your soft, squishy top armor. Certain artillery can load solid AP shells as well, which are rarely used, but have their place.** Tanks, which can throw themselves into flying tackles at other tanks. While full physics support has yet to be implemented in-game, gravity can still be used as a last-resort weapon. Particularly heavy tanks, like the Maus for example, can drop onto nearly any tank in the game and crush them to death. Any tank which can survive the initial impact will rapidly lose it's HP, so long as the assailant can remain on top of the unlucky victim.* In ''VideoGame/AirfixDogfighter'', it would be the secondary weapons meant for destroying earth-bound vehicles and buildings. Also, the planes in general.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]* The cry "Death From Above!" occasionally appears in the webcomic ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan''. Dominic's cat, Spark, uses it as his catchphrase when dropping ''himself'' onto the head of a (usually much larger) enemy. The same series inverts the entire idea during one story arc, as a villain notes how the city he's threatening was designed to defend against aerial bombardment... then calls up an attack from ''beneath the earth''.* [[http://www.dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_046.html This incident]] from ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak''. Admittedly, it's proven later that this thing is a giant walker and not a giant flier, but it's taller than most buildings. I think that qualifies as "above," don't you?* Inverted in [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090809 this strip]] of ''LeastICouldDo'', wherein young [[{{Jerkass}} Rayne]] has been waiting somewhere (on the ceiling?) for his mom to wake up so he can give her a hug.* An odd version in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', where Vaarsuvius is saved from a death knight by the severed head of a zombie dragon falling on it. Also the eternal fate of the [[TheChewToy Flumphs]], although they always survive it.** Also [[TokenEvilTeammate Belkar's]] reaction to the ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ring of Jumping]]'', as quoted at the top of this page.* The orbiting "[[KillSat Clean Sweep Platform]]" ''Wrath Of God'' in Dave Hopkins' ''Rework The Dead''. The undead have taken over L.A? Call in WOG and vaporise them from orbit. ''Webcomic/{{Jack|DavidHopkins}}'' also by Hopkins has Angels, particularly Reckonin', doing this on a regular basis.* Enryu from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' and his ability [[RainOfArrows Red Rain]], which is the materialization of countless spears above the enemy. The greatest ''recorded'' number was 9000 at a time.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]* Done in grand fashion in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', the animated series on the WB. [[TheJuggernaut Apocalypse]] is running amok somewhere in Mexico, all other X-Men around have failed to dent him. Enter the new fully evolved Magneto, [[TheCape cape billowing]] behind him. He proceeds to use his powers to slam man-made satellites into Apocalypse. Mind you, all that does is [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu piss Apocalypse off]].* Not strictly Death From Above, but in Creator/DreamWorks' ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' the fiery hail is gloriously rendered as a serious, sky-lighting event.* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Aang and the inhabitants of the Northern Air Temple defeat a vastly more powerful Fire Nation army by having complete domination of the skies. They manage to rout the whole force using no ground troops at all.** Sort of [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in AvatarTheAbridgedSeries.-->'''Sokka''': They may have tanks and firebending, but we have the skies. Which means we're gonna win this battle the way battles ought to be won. By bombing the ''crap'' out of 'em!** Occurs in the finale when [[spoiler:The Fire Nation decides that it'll be easier to rebuild after wiping out the Earth Kingdom with their fleet of airships and the powerboost from the Comet than ruling over it.]]* Invoked word-for-word by [[JusticeLeagueUnlimited Amanda Waller]] after the Justice League's [[KillSat Binary Fusion Generator]] has been fired on Cadmus Headquarters, with disastrous consequences for [[CouldHaveBeenMessy buildings all around]].* Max's catchphrase, word for word, from the 1990s [[WesternAnimation/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam and Max]] cartoon.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]* Severe thunderstorms definitely qualify, because of three major threats they often contain:** Lightning. A "bolt from the blue" from a thunderstorm's anvil can strike up to ''30 miles'' from the storm, and lightning from ''any'' thunderstorm is one of the biggest weather killers every year, often racking up a bigger death toll than tornadoes unless there was a particularly deadly tornado outbreak in the year. Severe thunderstorms often have ''even more frequent'' and positive charge lightning, which makes them an even deadlier lightning hazard.** Hail. Hailstones the size of golfballs can cause major injury especially if falling at high enough speed or blown about by high winds. Once hail reaches orange/tennis ball size, it is fatal to humans and animals trapped out in it unless they can find immediate cover for their head. Baseball size and beyond is even worse, in that it can both smash through vehicles and any glass (just as golf ball or higher can), ''and'' is big enough to kill anyone who, say, gets out of the car to check out the damage or who survived the glass fusillade in their greenhouse.** Tornadoes, though they ''technically'' half spin up from the ground and half come down from the storm mesocyclone. Either way, when a funnel cloud "touches down" it is visually, if not technically, one of the most frightening natural invocations of the trope.* [[http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/rods-god Project Thor]] (also called either "Rods from God" or "[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic The Sword of Damocles]]") would have placed bundles of power pole-sized tungsten rods into Earth orbit, with a retrorocket and guidance system attached to each one. The idea was to call down the poles at need, with the rear-mounted guidance system assuring pinpoint accuracy. Sort of a modern-day [[RainOfArrows Rain of]] [[ArrowsOnFire Flaming Arrows]], save each hit at terminal velocity would have been in the kiloton range. Note that tungsten is the densest metal except for a few that are horrifically expensive (it's nearly twice as dense as ''lead''), and has an incredibly high melting point. That's right, it's ColonyDrop, used as a weapon.** Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), Project Thor falls squarely into the category AwesomeButImpractical, preventing it from being realized.* This trope applies to many machines of the U.S. Air Force. A number of USAF aircraft are joked about (fairly or otherwise) just because they might ''fall on you''. The Vietnam-era F-105 Thunderchief supposedly derives its nickname of "Thud" from this bit of humor. some more straight examples:** The AC-130 "Spectre" Gunship - A conversion of a C-130 cargo plane that replaces the cargo with a [[GatlingGood 25mm Gatling Gun]], a [[MoreDakka 40mm automatic cannon]], and a [[{{BFG}} 105mm howitzer field artillery piece]]. All can be (and often are) equipped with [[StuffBlowingUp explosive rounds]] and the Air Force is considering [[SerialEscalation increasing the caliber of all weapons]] now that they have ways to compensate for the recoil.** The B-52 "Stratofortress" strategic bomber - It holds 70,000 lbs. of [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill BOMBS]]. With software upgrades, each of these bombs can be as accurate as any precision bomb dropped by a strike fighter. This allows the B-52 to act as close-air-support, dropping 70,000lbs of bombs exactly where they're needed.** The A-10 "Thunderbolt" attack aircraft (A.K.A. the "Warthog") - Basically a flying tank capable of holding over a dozen bombs or missiles and flying in very low, but its main feature is a [[GatlingGood 30mm gatling gun]] that fires 65 depleted uranium slugs EVERY SECOND. The plane had to be specially designed with a low stall speed and two very powerful engines just to keep it from dropping out of the sky every time the pilot pulled the trigger. It can still do this with about half of everything [[{{Badass}} blown off]].*** The main cannon of the Warthog produces more recoil than its engines do thrust. Continual fire of the cannon would eventually stop the forward momentum of the airplane entirely, save that it would run out of ammunition long before that point.** [[BigBulkyBomb GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast "MOAB" bomb]] - The largest conventional explosive device known to man (unless you ask the Russians, who have yet to prove otherwise), this bomb has to be dropped from a cargo plane because it's too big to be dropped by a B-52. ** The F-104 Starfighter was referred to as the "Missile with a man in it", partially due to its missile-shaped profile and partially due to its horrific safety record (due to a combination of pilot error and being an unforgiving design).** Also from the United States Air Force is the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP). These Airmen are trained and deployed with the Army, whether they be standard infantry, airborne, air assault, or in some cases Rangers. Their job description basically boils down to: If the enemy shoots at you, ''[[DisproportionateRetribution drop a 2,000 pound bomb on the enemy's head.]]'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction Individual TACPs]] have [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill "dropped" upwards of 200,000 lbs of bomb in the Iraq War alone.]] If the enemy is too close for said action, the enemy will likely get shot in the face.* This is the point of indirect-fire artillery. Born on Western Front of World War I and refined between the wars, by the end of the Second World War United States artillery was known for its lethally accurate barrages and rapid response time, while the Soviets massed their artillery by division and corps, unleashing thousands of guns whose combined fire could convert huge swathes of terrain into cratered wastelands. In the modern era it has only gotten worse, as a battery of modern rocket artillery with just six vehicles can wipe out a battalion of tanks or regiment of infantry in a single firing cycle.* This is pretty much what killed the dinosaurs (although recent research indicates that the earth was trying to become a LethalLavaLand at the time [again] and that the asteroid was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back). The Cretaceous Extinction was a Class 4 on the [[ApocalypseHow Sliding Scale Of Complete Destruction]]. The impact was explicitly called Death From Above by a [[TheHistoryChannel History Channel]] special about the geologic history of the Earth.* Any aerial predator that feeds on ground-dwelling prey. Special mention goes to [[BadAss ea]][[FeatheredFiend gles]].** [[SuperSpeed Falcons]] also deserve a special mention, as they're specialized for catching prey ''while'' flying.** From a certain point of view, there's even some truth to the concept of pterosaurs being this. A ''Pteranodon'' would be perfectly suited to killing you...if you happen to be a small sea creature.** Oddly subverted with the biggest flyers of them all, the Azhdarchids. They seem to be in the perfect position to be this, being skilled and powerful flyers and absolutely ''massive''. But it turns out, based on the anatomy they possess, that they were more happy to kill things by ''walking'' (or even ''galloping'') than flying.* During the Cold War the Strategic Air Command (or SAC for short) was this racked up to eleven. To put things into perspective these guys where in control of the nuclear arsenal of the United States of America, our strategy in the event of a nuclear war would be to drop calculated and precise B-52 nuclear strikes to weaken the Soviet's ability to mount a counter-attack and then all of our nuclear warheads from our submarines and Military bases would be launched for an all out assault. As some experts would recount SAC was probably the most powerful Military Force ever known to Mankind, but after the Cold War it had to be shut down because a nuclear threat from the Soviet Union had more or less ceased. The motto of the bomber wing (the guys who flew the B-52s and other tactical fighter planes) was "Death from Above" which makes sense as dropping a nuclear bomb on you definitely counts.* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto Project Pluto]] was an early attempt by the US to design nuclear-armed drones missiles. Propelled by a Nuclear powered ramjet, the missiles would theoretically have near-unlimited range, and be able to fly around on standby mode for ''years'' before needing to be refuelled. The project was cancelled due to a combination of the missiles potentially irradiating the atmosphere wherever they went, conventional ICBM rockets being easier to build, and fears that the Soviet Union would develop a similar superweapon of their own in response.* Historically, Dive Bombers get some special credit for invoking this trope by diving on their targets before releasing their bombs in order to gain better accuracy (making them a very important part of a carrier's one-two punch against enemy ships, alongside Torpedo Bombers attacking from low altitude). During World War II, the Germans, Americans, and Japanese all fielded famous examples in the form of the [[StukaScream Stuka]], the [[{{Determinator}} Dauntless]], and the [[ReportingNames Val]], while the British used the less well known Blackburn Skua and Vultee Vengeance. They were phased out at the end of the war (along with Torpedo Bombers) in favor of fighter bombers and heavily-armed ground attack planes such as the A-1 Skyraider.[[/folder]]